A lot of people have been eager to hear and see how good the new Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 VC lens is. Coming in at a mere $1499 compared to $2099 for the Canon version, it has a chance to sell well for Tamron if it can at least be close to the highly regarded Canon.

Photo News had a chance to play with one and have come away pretty positive about the Tamron. There are lots of pictures and thoughts about build, the AF and optical performance of the lens.

From Photo News

The Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD brings Tamron’s legendary optical performance into the 21st century with the addition of USD and VC. The autofocus is fast with the addition of USD, the VC is effective , and the image quality is what we’re used to from this legend. Tamron has fixed a few quirks of the older version and we’d feel comfortable taking this lens on any job or just a walk in the park. The deciding factor for this lens will be the price point.

The Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Di VC USD is due to start shipping on November 30, 2012.

I'll wait to see more formal testing then just a few handheld field shots, but it certainly looks tempting. I just got the Tamron 24-80 f/2.8 -- barely used it yet, but so far it seems fantastic and a great price compared to Canon (even though it doesn't have the red ring).

"LEGENDARY" quality for Tamron? Let's say it's acceptable. How can that guy call it LEGENDARY? Did they try the 18-270?!

Yeah, that kind of jumped out at me too .... someone was just copying a press release for part of the article. Hopefully the review portion was based on the author's judgment and not the publicity agent's.

This will be a difficult decision for me. I have the SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD, love it, and have no intention of "upgrading" to the EF24-70L II due to $700+ price difference and IS. I know there are a lot of granite-armed gunslingers out there who insist that IS is not necessary in this focal range, but I find it incredibly useful. This choice is not so obvious as it is more apples to apples. I look forward to seeing more samples and some in depth reviews. Hey Rogier, how about a quickie? I am still hoping the EF70-200L II will drop below the $2000 level sometime after the holidays. Thankfully, I have a copy of the most wonderful EF70-200 f/4L IS, so I'm in no major hurry...

It doesn't have the red ring, therefore, I'll stay with Canon f2.8 IS II

But it could have the red ring... I have added the red ring to several zoom lenses. Go to the grocery store, get some broccoli, go home and eat it. Take the red rubber band that was on the broccoli and stetch it over your lens and voila! You have a lens with a red ring!

Seriously though, you can use an appropriate sized rubber band, half on the zoom ring and half on the lens body, to combat the evils of lens creep :-)

That's real nice to see the third party manufacturers can make good lenses. Thus, we will have more choices and it could push Canon making better products for us. However, this lens is too late on the market. Canon 70-200 F/2.8 IS MK2 have been released for three years. Moreover, if the IQ is only similar to Canon 70-200 F/2.8 IS MK2, 1500 USD is too expensive. The reasonable price tag should be about 1300 USD.

the tamron 17-50 2.8 without VC is supposed to be pretty good, apparently the VC version is a bit softer. That being said I used to own a canon 17-55 2.8 it was awesome and I still miss that range on FF. the 24-70 gets close, but I loved the fact that at 55mm on apc c the canon was a good portrait lens too. 70 on ff is just a little short of ideal.

That's real nice to see the third party manufacturers can make good lenses. Thus, we will have more choices and it could push Canon making better products for us. However, this lens is too late on the market. Canon 70-200 F/2.8 IS MK2 have been released for three years. Moreover, if the IQ is only similar to Canon 70-200 F/2.8 IS MK2, 1500 USD is too expensive. The reasonable price tag should be about 1300 USD.

Agreed. However, Tamron tends to offer year-round rebates once a lens has been released for a few months, so I would expect the street price will be closer to your $1,300. Even at that though, for U.S. customers, the price of a refurbished 70-200 L II is not that much more when it is on special.

This is so tempting. Oh so tempting. I'd love to see a comparison shoot of this and the Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II with the same body (preferably 5d3, but 1dX would work as well), and with MFA. I'd also love a real world test of the weather-sealing on both of them, although I know the Canon's is quite good. If the Tamron claims weather-sealing, it needs to keep up. The other downside is I can't get CPS service on the Tamron...